The reason for this is that (the members of a particular
nation) obtain royal authority only after (proving their) forcefulness
and finding other nations obedient to them. (Only a few) are then
singled out to become the actual rulers and to be directly connected
with the throne. It could not be all of them, because there is not
enough room for all to compete (for leadership), and because the
existence of jealousy cuts short the aspirations of many of those who
aspire to high office.

Those who are singled out to support the dynasty indulge
in a life of ease and sink into luxury and plenty. They make servants of
their fellows and contemporaries and use them to further the various
interests and enterprises of the dynasty. Those who are far away from
the government and who are thus prevented from having a share in it,
remain in the shadow of the dynastic power. They share in it by virtue
of their descent, (but) they are not affected by senility, because they
remain far from the life of luxury and the things that produce luxury.

The (passing) days get the upper hand over the original
group (in power). Their prowess disappears as the result of senility.
(The duties of) the dynasty make them soft.128
Time feasts on them, as their energy is exhausted by well-being and
their vigor drained by the nature of luxury. They reach their limit, the
limit that is set by the nature of human urbanization (tamaddun) and political
superiority.

At that moment, the group feeling of other people (within
the same nation) is strong. Their force cannot be broken. Their emblem
is recognized to be victorious. As a result, their hopes of achieving
royal authority, from which they had been kept until now by a superior
power within their own group, are high. Their superiority is recognized,
and, therefore, no one disputes (their claim to royal authority). They
seize power. It becomes theirs. Then, they have the same experience
(their predecessors had) at the hands of those other groups within the
nation that remain away from (the government). Royal authority thus
continues in a par­ticular nation until the force of the group feeling
of (that nation) is broken and gone, or until all its groups have ceased
to exist. That is how God proceeds with regard to life in this world.
"And the other world, according to your Lord, belongs to those who fear
God." 129

This can be illustrated by what happened among the
nations. When the royal authority of 'Ad was wiped out, their brethren,
the Thamud, took over. They were succeeded, in turn, by their brethren,
the Amalekites. The Amalekites were succeeded by their brethren, the
Himyar. The Himyar were succeeded by their brethren, the Tubba's, who
belonged to the Himyar. They, likewise, were succeeded, by the Adhwa'.130
Then, the Mudar came to power.

The same was the case with the Persians. When the
Kayyanid 131rule was wiped
out, the Sassanians ruled after them. Eventually, God permitted them all
to be destroyed by the Muslims.

The same was also the case with the Greeks. Their rule
was wiped out and transferred to their brethren, the Rum (Romans).

The same was the case with the Berbers in the Maghrib.
When the rule of their first rulers, the Maghrawah and the Kutimah, was
wiped out, it went to the Sinhajah. Then it went to the Veiled (Sinhajah),
then to the Masmudah, and then to the (still) remaining Zanatah groups.

This is how God proceeds with His servants and creatures.

All this has its origin in group feeling, which differs
in the different groups. Luxury wears out the royal authority and
overthrows it, as we shall mention later on.
132When a dynasty is wiped out, the power is taken
(away) from (the members of that dynasty) by those people whose group
feeling has a share in the (established) group feeling, since it is
recognized that submission and subservience (by others) belong to (the
established group feeling) and since people are used to the fact that
(the established group feeling) has superiority over all other group
feelings. (The same group feeling,) now, exists only in those people who
are closely related (to the outgoing dynasty), because group feeling is
proportionate to the degree of relationship. (It goes on that way
until,) eventually, a great change takes place in the world, such as the
transformation of a religion, or the disappearance of a civilization, or
something else willed by the power of God. Then, royal authority is
transferred from one group to another-to the one that God permits to
effect that change. This happened to the Mudar. They gained superiority
over nations and dynasties, and took power away from all the people of
the world, after having themselves been kept out of power for ages.